Feed The Hungry

FEEDING THE HUNGRY. The Congregation of Liberal Judaism has decided to participate in a community project to feed the hungry and homeless in Orlando. The program is coordinated by volunteers who supply and prepare the food.An organizational meeting will be held 928 Malone Drive, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Feeding the hungry In his My Word column, "Food Not Bombs didn't make a truce," on Saturday, Ben Markeson writes: "The city has created a system of economic apartheid, or second-class citizenship, in which access to public facilities is determined by socioeconomic status. " Without citing them, he invokes Thomas Jefferson's famous words: …all men are created equal... endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Our government is built around this theme. The nonviolence and selflessness of Food Not Bombs embodies the very "charity" pleaded for in 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13 (the "Love Chapter")

The Jan. 30 news, "Haiti's poor resort to eating mud cookies," reminds us that there is another dire need that humanity needs to address: hunger/starvation. As a Christian, I think Jesus' commandment to "Feed the hungry" rings loud and clear. The need is great, but so are our resources. I hope individuals, organizations, churches and governments will heed the call to alleviate this problem. SUSAN TALANA HARRIS Orlando

MOUNT DORA — Juliette Davis is up to her elbows in clay. Davis, owner of Yada Yada Pottery, her students and many others have created 300 bowls toward a goal of 1,000 for the Third Annual Empty Bowls Fall Harvest Soup Supper Oct. 17. "My students are having a contest to see who can make the most bowls," she said. "It's a good kind of crazy. " It takes about two weeks to complete one bowl, Davis said. And that's if you stay on top of the process, which includes trimming, drying to greenwear stage, multiple firings, cooling, applying glaze and finally, painting.

A preacher said he put barbecued rabbit on the menu of his Easter meal for the homeless to dramatize their plight. ''Jesus Christ did not tell us to give each other some cuddly little Easter bunny,'' said the Rev. Larry Rice as the hungry and homeless lined up Sunday at the New Life Evangelical Center. ''He told us to feed the hungry.''

The Osceola Astros will sponsor a ''Feed the Hungry'' fund-raiser at today's 7 p.m. Florida State League game against Fort Myers at Osceola County Stadium.Any fan who brings a canned food item can buy a general admission ticket for $1 and a box seat for $2. The goods will be go to Osceola Community Action.''This is a good chance for everybody to help out the people who really need it,'' Osceola General Manager Tim Bawmann said. ''We plan to do this a couple of more times this year.''

A lot goes into running a community food bank. Just ask the folks at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, which received 4.2 million pounds of food last year from food service companies. This is what it takes to feed the hungry of Central Florida:- 300 member agencies;- 66 volunteers donating 565 hours last month (during peak times such as Thanksgiving and Christmas an average of 1,000 hours are donated);- 15 paid staff members;- A 20,000 square foot warehouse, additional leased space for special food drives;- 2 trucks, a 22-foot refrigerated one and a 24-footer.

Roy Bell, of Altamonte Springs, was presented the Bill Martin Award by the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. Bell, who with his wife, Joyce, operates an emergency food services center at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Maitland, was recognized for his dedication in feeding the hungry of the community. The award is named after the founder and first president of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, Bill Martin, who died in 1983. It is given periodically to those who perform outstanding work in using food that would otherwise be discarded to help feed the hungry.

HOW COULD anyone criticize the churches for following the precept of our Savior to feed the hungry and care for the homeless?We are very proud of our churches and care-giving institutions in Central Florida. They provide a steady influence in a time when the very fabric of our society is being battered by unwholesome forces.Cities must be more than showplaces of stone and mortar and no city community can ever be truly ''great'' unless it shows compassion for the less fortunate among us.Nora Grace AyersORLANDO

More than 40,000 children under 5 die every day from malnutrition and infection despite increases in the worldwide supply of food, a hunger relief group said Monday.Children are among 500 million people suffering from hunger, most of them living in poor, developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America, according to the report issued by Bread for the World.A major cause of hunger is disruptions caused by wars and fighting in many nations: Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Mozambique and Liberia, to name a few.Art Simon, the group's president, said Bread for the World hoped to encourage countries to slow down military spending and use the money to feed the hungry.

Orlando Food Not Bombs serves free meals to the hungry, but it also has skillfully capitalized on the media's voracious appetite for controversy. Orlando's reputation has lately taken an international drubbing as police have handcuffed and hauled away Food Not Bombs members at Lake Eola for defying the city ordinance that limits large group feedings in downtown parks. City police made five more arrests Wednesday night. Yet Orlando is justified in enforcing this 2006 ordinance, which was unanimously upheld in April by a federal appeals court.

LEESBURG — Delivering nourishment to starving children is Wally and Sally Nebel's mission. According to a group the Nebels are involved with, Kids Against Hunger, 14,400 children die every day from hunger-related causes. "It's pretty depressing when you think about it," Sally Nebel said. The couple, members of Morrison United Methodist Church, hope to do something about it by delivering 200,000 nourishing meals to hungry children in this country and around the world.

Unable to keep up with the growing ranks of hungry people, a Central Florida food bank turned to a group of local religious leaders to issue an interfaith plea to the community: Give before the cupboards go bare. As the economy declines, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida has struggled to keep up with unprecedented demands. The nonprofit agency distributed 2 million pounds of food last month. That compares with 1 million in October 2007. And the gap between supply and demand keeps growing, said Dave Krepcho, the food bank's president and chief executive officer.

LEESBURG -- Volunteers at one of the area's key food banks worry about their continued ability to feed the hungry. The Leesburg Food Bank is in dire need of donations after high utility costs and a decrease in contributions have made it difficult for volunteers to maintain efforts to feed those in need. "We have been hit hard," said founder and executive director Harriette Mann. "We're trying to find food to help the needy, and we do not have what our criteria demands." The food bank -- at 1305 Sunshine Ave. -- has typically offered 20 pounds of food per person, but it has been tough to match that figure in recent months.

The Jan. 30 news, "Haiti's poor resort to eating mud cookies," reminds us that there is another dire need that humanity needs to address: hunger/starvation. As a Christian, I think Jesus' commandment to "Feed the hungry" rings loud and clear. The need is great, but so are our resources. I hope individuals, organizations, churches and governments will heed the call to alleviate this problem. SUSAN TALANA HARRIS Orlando

When 2,736 pounds of food piles up in just four hours, there's got to be a catch, right? In this case the lure was a free bite to eat at 13 Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in Central Florida. From 5 to 9 p.m. June 9, customers traded canned or boxed food for a free burrito, taco, salad or burrito bowl. The fundraiser, which benefited Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida in Orlando, was in recognition of National Hunger Awareness Day. The amount of food collected will provide about 1,824 meals.

A presidential inauguration costing $40 million is obscene in the time of such desperate need and despair. I don't care who pays the bill. That money should be going to feed the hungry, educate the "uneducable," cover excessively high medical and pharmaceutical costs, pay for research, eliminate crime and gangs and rebuild devastated nations, including our own, suffering from nature's rampages. A simple swearing-in with a military band, followed by one banquet and ball would be more appropriate in today's world.

REGARDING THE letter to the editor in The Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 24, titled ''An Industry to Pacify'':Someone else's lifestyle is none of my business and I couldn't care less. Homosexuality has been around for centuries, and at 70 years young I have no fears of anyone or anything.However, I do have concerns (not fears) that as a human being I am losing my freedoms and rights because minority groups complain constantly for their rights and lifestyles. New laws are forever in effect that deprive me of my rights or who I am.Also, I am sick and fed up with the Christian-bashing going on - people live their own lives with their own thoughts.

I realize that this subject is dividing our country. As a U.S. citizen for more than 40 years, I want our country to be protected by our government. I expect our elected officials to do what is humanly possible to protect our freedoms. I was also an immigrant once. Back in 1962, along with thousands of others from my native Cuba, I came to this country to escape Communism, to enjoy the freedoms we sometimes forget we have, to work and provide food and shelter to our families, to be able to express ourselves freely, to worship where we wish, all without the fear of reprisals.